Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Chicago mayor defends handgun ban after shootings - Boston.com

Chicago mayor defends handgun ban after shootings

By Serena Dai

Associated Press Writer / June 22, 2010

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CHICAGO—Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley defended the city's handgun ban Tuesday after a spate of shootings that left 10 people dead and dozens wounded, saying the violence bolsters the city's argument that the 1982 ordinance is needed.

Daley said the city must continue to fight against handguns even if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the ban as unconstitional. The court is expected to rule later this month.

"Look at all the guns that shot people this weekend. Where did they come from? That is the issue," Daley said at a South Side high school Tuesday.

Ten people have been killed and more than 60 others wounded by gunfire since Friday, city officials said. Daley said about 75 percent of the recent shootings involved people who knew each other.

Chicago officials have said that if the Supreme Court rules against the city, they would look for ways to change gun restrictions so they aren't unconstitutional.

City’s small high schools lift graduation rates, report concludes | GothamSchools

City’s small high schools lift graduation rates, report concludes

by Maura Walz

The city’s small, non-selective high schools significantly boost disadvantaged student’s chances of graduating, a new report concludes.
The report (available in full below) is the latest in a series of studies from New York-based research firm MDRC and funded by the Gates Foundation, which put $150 million into the growth of small schools in the city. Replacing large, struggling high schools with small ones has been one of the centerpieces of Schools Chancellor Joel Klein’s reform efforts.
For the group of students researchers followed, the small schools had a nearly 69 percent graduation rate, compared to a roughly 62 percent rate for students in the study’s control group. Researchers reported that the positive impact of enrolling in a small school began during students’ freshman year and was sustained over the next three years. And, the study found, the benefits applied to a wide variety of students, including low-income students of color.
The study looked at the academic records of a subset of the small schools launched under Klein — about a hundred “small schools of choice.” The schools were chosen because more students applied to them than the school had room for, and thus admissions were determined by random lottery. Researchers could thus compare students who applied and enrolled in the small schools to those who applied but were assigned elsewhere.

Remainders: Harlem middle-schooler drowns on field trip

by Maura Walz

A 12-year-old Harlem student drowned on a school field trip to the beach today. (City Room)
Gov. Paterson said that he expects a state budget passed by next Monday. (Daily Politics)
The Regents cut the state test program between $4 and $10 million, depending on the budget. (NYSED)
Bloomberg, Mulgrew, Logan and Weingarten will lobby Congress tomorrow for the edujobs bill. (no link)
Here’s a map of the 111 schools the city has closed since 2002. (GothamSchools)
A teacher nominates the worst question on this month’s math Regents exams. (JD2718)
Singer Mary J. Blige will speak at a small all-girls Bronx school graduating its first class. (City Room)
Poor nutrition could be the link between tooth decay and childhood obesity, researchers say. (NPR)
School meals lead to better grades but not better health, a new study says. (Inside School Research)
A study of the D.C. vouchers program found mixed results. (Quick and the Ed)
A principal wonders why the national reform agenda includes many unproven strategies. (Answer Sheet)
A group of church leaders is also calling Obama’s reform movement into question. (Dewey 21C)

Schools Matter: Mass Civil Rights Demonstration Planned for Raleigh July 20

Mass Civil Rights Demonstration Planned for Raleigh July 20

by Jim Horn

The vote by the Tea Party Five to destroy the most effective socioeconomic school integration plan in America has spawned a new era of civil disobedience in Raleigh and a re-connection of the state NAACP with the flowering of the Civil Rights Movement. From the News and Observer:

RALEIGH In an attempt to draw parallels with civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., a pair of local activists issued a letter today explaining why they were willing to be arrested to oppose the end of Wake County’s school diversity policy.

In the letter, the Rev. William Barber, head of the state NAACP, and the Rev. Nancy Petty, pastor of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, write that their actions were decided to force the community to

The Answer Sheet - Principal: How to REALLY turn around a school

Principal: How to REALLY turn around a school

My guest is George Wood, principal of Federal Hocking High School in Stewart, Ohio, and executive director of the non-profit Forum for Education and Democracy, a collaboration of educators from around the country.

By George Wood
For the past 18 years I have worked as a high school/middle school principal alongside a dedicated staff and a community committed to improving a school.

In that time we have increased graduation and college going rates, engaged our students in more internships and college courses, created an advisory system that keeps tabs on all of our students, and developed the highest graduation standards in the state (including a Senior Project and Graduation Portfolio).

But reading the popular press, and listening to the chatter from Washington, I have just found out that we are not part of the movement to ‘reform’ schools.

You see, we did not do all the stuff that the new ‘reformers’ think is vital to improve our schools. We did not fire the staff, eliminate tenure, or pay teachers based on student test scores. We did not become a

Nonprofit official named to high LA schools post - San Jose Mercury News

Nonprofit official named to high LA schools post

By CHRISTINA HOAG Associated Press Writer

Posted: 06/22/2010 01:19:37 PM PDT

Updated: 06/22/2010 01:19:37 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES—The Los Angeles Board of Education has appointed a top official with the country's leading school reform foundation as the No. 2 leader of the nation's second-largest school district.

The board voted Tuesday to name John Deasy, deputy director of education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as deputy superintendent.

Deasy currently oversees the $200 million educational grant program for the Gates Foundation, the nation's biggest player in the school reform movement.

The action fills a post that has been vacant since the previous deputy superintendent, Ramon Cortines, was

Mountain View's global teacher of 1,516 lessons and counting

From a tiny closet in Mountain View, Sal Khan is educating the globe for free. His 1,516 videotaped mini-lectures '” on topics ranging from simple addition to vector calculus and Napoleonic campaigns '” are transforming the former hedge fund analyst into a YouTube sensation, reaping praise from even reluctant students across the world.

Letter To A Father

East Side school board president recuperating after heart attack

Tempers flare on Santa Clara County school board

Cal State boosts fees by 5 percent for next fall's incoming class

Los Angeles teacher makes algebra cool with a hip-hop beat

Neumann outlines education initiative | FOX 21 Online

Neumann outlines education initiative

Tue, 06/22/2010 - 1:29pm

By Shawn Johnson, Wisconsin Public Radio

MADISON (WPR) Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Neumann has introduced an education plan that would end the state certification of teachers, reduce local mandates and put more of an emphasis on private choice schools.

Under Neumann's plan, school boards would be able to hire whomever they choose. There would be no state teacher or administrator certification. Neumann says it would attract qualified, practicing experts to the classroom.

"I have such great confidence in the people that run our school boards, our local people,” says Neumann.

“I am totally confident that the local people know better for their kids than the people do here in Madison."

The plan would also lift the enrollment cap that currently exists for Milwaukee's voucher school program and open the program to anyone regardless of income. Neumann is

N.J. school choice bill is expected to change in effort to gain legislative approval | NJ.com

N.J. school choice bill is expected to change in effort to gain legislative approval

Published: Tuesday, June 22, 2010, 3:30 PM Updated: Tuesday, June 22, 2010, 4:45 PM

Claire Heininger/Statehouse Bureau
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Patti Sapone/The Star LedgerNew Jersey education Commissioner Bret Schundler, stands at the podium in the foreground, left, as he addresses the crowd. Students, parents, and teachers arrived at the Statehouse in Trenton in May for a rally demanding state lawmakers provide disadvantaged families with the opportunity to have school vouchers.

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TRENTON — A controversial school choice bill will undergo significant changes in an effort to win legislative approval before the end of the month, its sponsor said today.

Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) said the Opportunity Scholarship Act will be adjusted by limiting the pilot program to "chronically failing schools in specific municipalities," based on local legislators' support. The proposal had targeted 176 "chronically failing schools" throughout the state, Lesniak said. He declined to say how many schools might be targeted now, but cities still certain to be involved include Newark, Camden and Elizabeth, he said.

The new version of the bill would also eliminate an "innovation fund" and allow districts to keep the difference between the cost of the scholarship and the state aid for that child, Lesniak said. He spoke at a press conference where more than a dozen members of the Black Ministers' Council of New Jersey urged Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) to support the bill.

The ministers said while Republican Gov. Chris Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) support the bill, Oliver was standing in the way. Oliver, who is the first African-American woman to hold the Assembly's top job, issued a statement this afternoon saying she has